[UPDATE: Welcome, AoSHQ readers.]
Yeah, normally I categorize this sort of thing as ‘cutting and running,’ but the man just fought off colon cancer. That stuff is nasty and even I have limits to my dearth of sympathy towards Democratic legislators.
Anyway… NY-22 is currently D+6, but who knows what will happen after the next redistricting? …Actually, according to Ed Koch this is a – his words, not mine – ‘godsend:’
Koch, who is leading the charge for an independent redistricting process, said he’s OK with nixing Hinchey’s seat, because “you’re not manufacturing the seat. You’re just taking advantage of the fact that you don’t have to eliminate another member who is resigning.”
“In a way it’s a godsend to the legislature not to have to fight as to who is going to be eliminated,” he said. “God eliminated him.”
Yikes, Ed. Yes, I know that New York has to lose two seats – and that one has to be upstate and the other downstate, lest there be open warfare in Albany – but surely you could have come up with a better description of the man’s colon cancer than (effectively) ‘God’s will?’ I’d avoid saying that, and I’m from the other party.
Anyway, if they do eviscerate the seat then speculating on it is futile. And every district bordering it is probably going to have significant changes to them, too.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
I can’t recall what interview it was–maybe 60 Minutes?–Koch said his favorite post-mayoral moment happened in a deli, a couple weeks after his last day on the job. A guy told Koch he sucked, in so many words, and Koch said “F*ck you.” And loved every second of it. Ah, Ed–you smoothy.